


Revelations

by orchidbreezefc



Series: Revelations [1]
Category: Marvel 616, Wolverine and the X-Men (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, M/M, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-19 07:17:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4737530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orchidbreezefc/pseuds/orchidbreezefc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Evan and Quentin are going to go dark, they're going to do it their way, and they're bringing their friends with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a little more of that everyone-goes-dark AU I wrote some of. This installment covers how everyone got into it.

“Quentin,” Evan says gravely, dropping his bag in the doorway and looking older than his actual age by far. “We need to talk."

Quentin twists in his seat on the couch to look over at him. “Those damn protestors again?"

“They were on my way here.” His red eyes slide to the TV, where a human 'mutant expert' is talking next to a clip of a sea of angrily-waving signs. One of them clearly depicts Evan's own face in a red circle with a slash through it. Quentin hurriedly goes to turn it off, but Evan waves a hand. "That's what I'm talking about. That's exactly it."

"Genesis..." Quentin says. He's always found Evan relaxes a little when he calls him that. It reminds him that even the last person he thought would ever accept him could change.

Today, Evan winces at the name. "Quentin, don't."

Quentin sits up straighter. "I don't understand," he says slowly, a phrase he finds difficult to use but necessary if he's going to stay within accepted telepathic boundaries.

Evan cocks his head. "Can't you read my mind?"

Quentin takes a breath. “Evan, you know that I—“ he begins, then hesitates. “Wait, did you? Just now? Read mine?” He narrows his eyes. “I don’t broadcast." He hasn’t since he was a teenager.

Evan crosses to the couch and kneels in front of Quentin to take his hands. "We've been so careful with our telepathy," he breathes, rubbing circles on the pale backs of Quentin's hands with grey thumbs. "Should we have to be?"

"Shouldn't we? Respect people's privacy?" It's what Quentin's always been told, whether or not he agrees or even understands. He doesn't want to ask 'what are you thinking?' because he is afraid Evan will ask him to look, and he is afraid of what he will find. 

"I've been rethinking a lot of things," Evan says softly.

"Okay," Quentin says, turning off the TV. "Like what?"

Evan sighs and loosens a hand from Quentin to run it through his own hair. "Everything has been so different lately," he says, then stops. "No. The problem is everything's been the same, no matter how we change. You and I, we've been more powerful and more faithful protectors of the world that hates and fears us than ever before. I've done everything right, and you control yourself within an inch of your life to keep everyone safe." He strokes Quentin's face wistfully. "It's never been enough."

"You're enough for me," Quentin says forcefully, squeezing Evan's hand, but Evan shakes his head. 

"That's not what I meant. I meant it'll never be enough for the humans to stop fearing us, holding us to impossible standards, and vilifying us whether we fail or not."

Quentin bites his lip. He can't say it is what it is and just urge Evan to accept it--Quentin could never let the status quo go without a fight--but what can they do?

"The X-Men are the same way, the classes outside ours. You can see it when they look at us. Like time bombs." Evan seems far away. "No matter how we prove ourselves time and again."

"We can leave the X-Men," Quentin says. "Well, you can. I'm fucking trapped checking in with them and the Avengers, but—"

Evan grabs his hand. “I hate that you’re answerable to them, darling. I hate that they don’t trust you."

Quentin looks at him for a long time. Traffic hums outside their apartment; the setting sun casts sharp shadows on anything not lit by Phoenix fire. “What are you feeling?” Quentin asks quietly. 

"Angry. Resentful. And confined. So confined, Quentin.” Evan brings Quentin’s palm to his face and tilts his head into it. 

Quentin squeezes his fingers. "I feel the same," he whispers. "I just didn't think--I didn't want you to feel that I was--"

“Oh, love,” Evan sighs. He gets up and lifts Quentin enough to tuck his legs under him on the couch, and then holds Quentin in his lap. "I know you want to be good for me."

Quentin puts his fiery head on Evan’s chest and closes his eyes. Evan strokes his hair, the faint burning sensation merely a familiar warmth. “You try so hard," he says softly. “We shouldn’t have to work so hard for them. I’m so tired of it. Watching you tear yourself in pieces for them."

“Evan,” Quentin says haltingly. “You’re not asking me to let her loose?"

“No. I just think sometime we ought to start playing by our own rules. Protect mutantkind our way."

Quentin twines his fingers into Evan's. “At the risk of being a sap, I’ll follow you anywhere," he says softly. “You know that."

They sit like that for a long time, watching the light out the window change color and fade.

“I have a plan,” Evan says eventually, and Quentin just squeezes his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended to publish this earlier, but I've been really busy! Hope it's worth a little wait ;)
> 
> Argus is the codename Eye-Kid adopts when they get older and nonbinary-er. Omega X is just the codename I want Quentin to use when he outgrows Kid Omega. Has a nice ring to it, right?
> 
> Nothing that needs to be warned for in this chapter, I think. If you disagree, please let me know ASAP!

Quentin swings his legs in the air off the roof he's sitting on. “Phoenix or Omega X?” he asks Evan. “Phoenix tends to stick, but this is a time for reinventing myself, right? The Omega X codename never really got the run it deserved, you know?”

“Whatever you want, love,” Evan says absently, rubbing Quentin’s back and staring out at the courtyard, where a red eye growing out of the ground is still gazing up at them fondly. Flowers grow in a neat path wherever Quentin looks. Krakoa is as enamored of him as ever; something should be done about it, Evan thinks.

“I just don’t want my girl to be mad,” Quentin continues, and then in a quieter tone, 

"Yes, I know, darling, we all know you wear the pants.” Quentin laughs and nudges Evan, who just frowns slightly.

Shark Woman makes her way across the courtyard. Argus follows and waves at them without moving their head up to look with their main eyes. Quentin waves back.

“That’s everyone,” says Phoenix, standing and stretching. “Time to go."

Evan takes his hand and they float down to the ground before the headquarters of the X-Men. Quentin lands a little lighter—Evan never got the hang of flying quite as gracefully as Quentin, who’s a natural.

“Don’t make any bird jokes,” Quentin warns at the thought, and Evan smiles. He’s grateful to have a little levity today. He hopes things will go well.

Their old classmates look like they hardly fit in the meeting room, where once the chairs would have seemed big on them. Gladiator is muscled and statuesque with his hands folded on the table; Nature Woman's antlers spread dignified in the air. Sprite sits poised and lovely in a chair made for wings, and Broo’s accommodates for all his appendages as he taps agitatedly on a tablet. Shark Woman is intimidating as ever and seems to grow larger every time they see her. Only Oya and Argus pass for relatively normal; in size and shape anyway.

“Friends,” Evan says, smiling broadly. “Thank you for making it; you’ve all been so busy lately."

“Busy learning to wield the reins of an empire," Kubark says pointedly. "A job I hope to get back to soon."

"We would love nothing more," Evan replies with firm resolve. "But first we must talk allegiances."

Everybody looks at each other. "Allegiance to the Phoenix you mean?" asks Jia, fluttering her wings nervously. Broo's frown deepens considerably, but he still doesn't look up from his tablet.

"She wishes," snorts Quentin softly. Evan bumps him with his elbow.

"No, nothing quite so drastic. In fact, nothing more than a reaffirmation of what we already have." Evan begins to move across the room, taking the time to look at each of them and gesture, while Quentin stays firm at the head of the room. "A promise that our friendship is loyalty. That we are allies to each other in the most dire circumstances. That we can work together for something brighter, as more than X-Men: as fellow mutants."

"Of course, Evan," says Oya immediately, lifting her head. "You know you have it."

"Good." Evan leans over Argus's chair, strong hands planted tight on the back of it. "As long as I have all your cooperation, I want to form a team."

"Oh," Jia says, hand going to her mouth. "Like X-Force?"

"The killing team?" Shark Woman says loudly. She bangs a fist on the table. "I'm in!"

"Yes and no," Evan says, smiling in relief at her enthusiasm. He glances at Quentin, who nods at him. Evan draws himself up to full height, which is nothing to sniff at. "Cards on the table, my friends: I don't think the X-Men are doing all they can to provide protection and safety for mutants around the world."

Apart from Kubark and Iara, who scoff in agreement, the assembled look surprised. Broo exhales; his tapping gets only faster and more agitated.

"I think we can do better," Evan presses. "And I can obtain more power, to protect mutants. That is, I have. And my beloved Phoenix has seen fit to join me."

Quentin looks impassively at the others, then steps toward Evan and joins their hands, then spreads them apart; in each hand is a small dark oblong object. 

Broo nearly cracks his tablet, then stops tapping altogether, leaving a new and tense silence. 

"Are those--?" Argus whispers tremulously. 

"Well? What are they? Lemme see!" Iara complains.

"Death Seeds," Evan says coolly. "They're for--" He looks at Quentin and falters. "An heir and--his--"

"You can say it, love," Quentin says. He looks at each person in turn. "An heir of Apocalypse and his Horseman of Death."

Nature Woman and Idie stand up at the same time. "Evan, you--"

Quentin brings his hand to his mouth first but the two of them swallow together. Evan buckles to his knees; Quentin's flame flickers out and he wipes his mouth with a foul expression. He grips the table, as if nauseated, and then blue blooms across his skin and he opens eyes red. Jia screams.

"Aw hell," Quentin grumbles, looking at his hands. "Gotta do something about that." His flame flickers on again, and he helps Evan to his feet.

"Quentin. Evan," says Idie, looking sick.

Evan holds up a hand and opens his eyes. "It feels--good," he says. He flexes his fingers experimentally. "I feel wonderful."

Quentin beams around at the others, who appear to have misgivings. "Ladies next," he says, nodding at Idie, Iara, Jia, and Lee, who all stare. He waves a hand and seeds appear. "Sorry, Broo, Kube. Human mutants only, Evan said those were the rules."

"Hmph. I like my color anyway," Kubark mumbles, eyeing the seeds with plain envy.

"You're crazy," says Idie. "We won't take those."

Nature Woman blinks at Idie. "We won't?" 

The others stare at her. She holds a hand out for her seed and examines it, then closes her eyes. "These are Celestial Seeds," she says. "I'm delighted to have the opportunity." She tilts her head back and swallows.

Lee falls to the floor, but Quentin is quickly there to help her up, blinking as her face spreads blue. "Pestilence," Quentin says, smiling broadly. "Thank you for joining us."

"Who would I be?" Iara interrupts. 

"War," Evan says. 

"Fuckin' sweet," Iara says. She catches a seed Quentin tosses her and swallows it. She manages to stay on her feet by gripping the table and nearly cracking it in half.

"There are two of us left," Sprite points out, wings buzzing in agitation. "Only one of us could be F--Famine, surely?"

"That's Idie," says Evan, nodding to her still scandalized face. "You, Jia, we were hoping would join Iara in the role of War. Her the brute force, you the tactics. Like Ares compared to Athena."

"Really?" Jia floats a couple inches off the ground in thoughtful interest.

"We had a lot of ideas about the areas you would have most influence over," Quentin says helpfully. "I mean, Evan and Iara and I are Westerners, so you, Lee, and Idie will be indispensable in helping us diplomatically."

"Diplomacy?" Idie says. "An Apocalyptic empire with diplomacy?"

Evan turns soft eyes on her. "Of course, Idie. You know me, don't you? I'm no supremacist. I don't want to exterminate humans; I want a world safe for mutants. And worlds past Earth, too," he says, smiling brightly at Kubark and Broo. "The X-Men, the Avengers--there's a place for all that. They keep things running smoothly and mutantkind safe. It's just a change of management, really."

"Management of the Earth?" Idie asks incredulously. 

"Idie," Jia urges, "it's the Avengers right now, and you know how they are. They don't care about us. You remember how they were with Hope." Idie bites her lip. "Really, if it's them or us, we'll do a much better job, I think." Her wings flutter in anticipation; her eyes turn starry. “And imagine us! Rulers! Diplomats! Guardians of mutants worldwide! My parents would be so proud, so much prouder than of a doctor. Please," she says, inclining her head to Quentin. He hands her a ruddy seed, and supports her by the waist as she takes it.

“Three of us blue-grey to start with," says Evan, half-amused. “Hardly any change."

All eyes turn to Idie, who wavers. “You can’t all be serious. We’re X-Men, not Horsemen…"

“We could be both,” Evan intones. “No one to fight. No villains or heroes. Everyone on a team to do good."

“Oh, come on, Oya,” Kubark breaks in. “Just take it so I can find out what my job is!"

“This is what I want to do, Idie," Evan insists, looking into her eyes. “And Quentin, and I want you to be with us."

Idie swallows and looks up at him, falters, then says “Yes. Yes, you’re right. Of course. I’ll be by your side." 

Evan covers her hand, giving her the seed, and offers his arm for her to hold herself steady. He catches Quentin’s eye and they smile, both glad the mind control they’d practiced hadn’t had to be used after all.

“Now," Evan says, dusting Idie’s shoulder off when she comes to. “Let’s talk business."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Krakoa/Quentin. The romance that was never meant to be.
> 
> Thanks to tumblr user Twyxted-Mind for the 'Ares and Athena' comparison!
> 
> Also, good news! I'm taking writing requests here and on tumblr! Send some in, please!


End file.
